D'Amato is just not that into Ghouliani, sics Rick LAZIO on'im. That'll do it!1

[UTUSN]

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http://www.nypost.com/seven/02132009/gossip/pagesix/al_taps_rick_to_torture_rudy_154889.htm

AL TAPS RICK TO TORTURE RUDY

REMEMBER Rick Lazio? He was the baby-faced Long Island Republican picked as a sacrificial lamb to run against the Hillary Clinton juggernaut in the US Senate race in 2000 after Rudy Giuliani dropped out. Lazio, a former congressman, left politics to work at JP Morgan. But now he might run against Giuliani in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary. "Al D'Amato is behind it to undercut Giuliani," one insider explained. D'Amato and Giuliani have long hated each other. By waging a rough, drawn-out primary battle, "Lazio could be expected to help Gov. Paterson win re-election." Politicos were shocked to see D'Amato front-and-center at Paterson's introduction of Kirsten Gillibrand as Clinton's replacement in the Senate. The Lazio gambit helps explain the growing friendship between Paterson and D'Amato. The strategy has been tried before. In 1989, when Giuliani was running for mayor, D'Amato backed billionaire Ronald Lauder as his Republican challenger. Although Lauder spent a sizable chunk of his fortune, Giuliani prevailed easily.

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DISCLAIMER re: linking to the NY Post (for to head-off highly predictable, OT/hijacking posts):: Yes, it is a RAG. Yes, it is owned by NewsCorp/Faux's MURDOCH. No, he doesn't Dictaphone content to his gossip columnists. No, "gossip" does NOT equate to "UNtruth." These old time gossipers are more journalists and reliable than Tweety and such ilk. Frequently, political tidbits are here first, later to show up in more "respectable" venues. Keep friends close, enemies closer. Cherrypicking intel results in self-fulfilling FALSENESS. I got hooked on these gossipers when they were on E!1 and, when they were cancelled, tracked them down and they happened to be at the RAG (NY Post). ALL I read at the RAG are the gossip and the horoscope.

[H2O Man]

1. Little Ricky

has long been Al's lap dog.